Arkansas Tech head football coach Steve Mullins wasted no time encouraging the Wonder Boys to put last Saturday’s loss to Henderson State behind them.

“We started talking about that on Saturday night,” Mullins said. “I thought when we came back for practice on Sunday the attitudes were extremely good for what we had gone through. You can’t control yesterday. You can win and lose today, but yesterday is gone and you have to move forward.”

With three of their top safeties lost to injury either before or during the course of the game, the Wonder Boys’ defense allowed 581 yards of total offense in a 73-34 loss to Henderson State on Saturday.

The Reddies were led by reigning NCAA Division II national offensive player of the week Kevin Rodgers. The sophomore quarterback threw six touchdown passes against Tech to bring his 2012 season total to 17 — the most touchdown passes by an individual at any level of NCAA football this year.

The 73 points scored by Henderson State was the highest total by an Arkansas Tech opponent since Nov. 13, 1915, when Central Arkansas defeated Tech 87-7 in Conway.

“The biggest thing for us is to develop some confidence on the defensive side of the ball,” Mullins said. “The first couple of games this year, we played very well on defense. Then we played very poorly on defense against Henderson State. We’re trying to repair those psyches so that we can force Ouachita to earn its way down the field.” The Tigers were idle last week after opening the season with back-to-back blowout wins over Northwestern Oklahoma State (55-3) and Stillman College (31-0).

Ouachita Baptist has held its first two opponents to a cumulative total of minus-42 yards rushing. The Tigers lead NCAA Division II in scoring defense, rushing defense and total defense. Their average of five quarterback sacks per game is tied for tops in the nation.

“Ouachita has only blitzed maybe a half-dozen times during the first two games of the season,” the coach explained. “They have been able to create pressure using just their front four and they’ve been extremely sound in the secondary. I don’t know if that will be their plan against us, but it has certainly worked well for them so far.”

Quarterback Casey Cooper was the GAC offensive player of the year in 2011 while leading OBU to the inaugural GAC football championship. He returned in 2012 for his senior season, but after just three pass attempts in the season opener, he was sidelined with a knee injury.

Cooper was replaced by Benson Jordan, a redshirt sophomore from Hot Springs and grandson of the late Buddy Bob Benson, who served as Ouachita Baptist head coach from 1965-95. Jordan has guided the Tigers to a pair of wins and a national ranking with a large assist from running back Chris Rycraw, who ranks second in the GAC in rushing (81.5 yards per game).

“Chris Rycraw is one of those guys who can turn a 2-yard run into a 6-yard run,” Mullins said. “That’s the thing about him that has impressed me the most on tape. He is a very tough running back.”

Arkansas Tech is led offensively by quarterback Tanner Marsh. The senior transfer from West Texas A&M University ranks second in the conference in total offense (298 yards per game) and third in the GAC in passing (272 yards per game). Junior Arkansas Tech wide receiver Cassius Washington is third in the league in all-purpose yardage (140.7 yards per game).

Redshirt freshman linebacker Logan Genz leads the Wonder Boys’ defense with 20 tackles through the first three games of the season.

Saturday will mark the 76th all-time meeting between Arkansas Tech and Ouachita Baptist. The Wonder Boys lead the series 41-27-7.

Arkansas Tech defeated OBU five straight meetings from 2003-07, but through a series of scheduling quirks they have only met once — a 28-7 Ouachita win in 2010 — since then.

Radio station KWKK 100.9 FM will have the broadcast, which will also be available online at athletics.atu.edu.